The Hawaiian Approach: Politics and Diplomacy with Aloha
Jan 28, 2020 7:15 AM
Patrick Branco
The Hawaiian Approach: Politics and Diplomacy with Aloha

Patrick Pihana Branco is a fourth generation Kailua resident and proud graduate of the Kamehameha Schools class of 2005.  Branco is a lifelong public servant and international affairs professional, who has spent his career overseas working to advance U.S. foreign policy. 

Branco received a full-tuition Presidential Scholarship from Hawaiʻi Pacific University (HPU), where he served as Student Body President.  In Washington D.C., Patrick was the first from Hawaiʻi to receive a Congressman Rangel International Affairs Fellowship, which fully funded his Master's at the Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in International Economics and Korea Studies. 

Patrick was commissioned as a United States Diplomat by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2012. In the U.S. Department of State, Patrick served tours in Colombia as the Deputy Press Attaché, Pakistan as a Vice Consul, the Special Assistant to the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, a Watch Officer in the Secretary of State’s Operations Center, and as the Cultural Attaché for U.S. Embassy Caracas.  He speaks Spanish, and is conversational in Korean and Hawaiian.